Wooldridge, Hurd win Wernher

Joel Wooldridge and John Hurd won the Wernher Open Pairs on Thursday, finishing 2.74 matchpoints ahead of the leaders after the qualifying sessions, Piotr Nawrock and Piotr Wiankowski of Poland.

Wooldridge and Hurd were sitting in third place going into Thursday’s final after scoring 66.45% and 55.83% on Wednesday. They took the lead in the first final session with a 63.99% and held on through the second final session, scoring 51.67%.

“It was interesting,” Wooldridge said.

“We didn’t play too good,” Hurd interjected.

“We didn’t play our best,” Wooldridge corrected, “but we hung in there. Even though things didn’t go perfectly, we didn’t let that faze us and kept our focus on the next problem.”

Nawrocki and Wiankowski started Thursday with a big lead after scoring 70.55% and 59.95% in Wednesday’s qualifying sessions, giving them a carryover about three and a half boards above average and almost a full board ahead of second place. They were consistent in Thursday’s final scoring 55.99% in the first final session and 55.89% in the second.